The four-day Surya vrat of Bihar and Purvanchal — nahay khay, kharna, and the evening and morning arghya at the water's edge. Exact Chhath Puja dates for Ottawa and Canada, computed for your timezone.
When: Kartik Shukla Shashthi (October–November), six days after Diwali; exact Ottawa dates below
Duration: Four days — Nahay Khay, Kharna, Sandhya Arghya, Usha Arghya
Worship: Surya and Chhathi Maiya — the sun and the sixth-day mother goddess
The vrat: A 36-hour nirjala fast for the vrati, from Kharna evening to the morning arghya
Signature offerings: Thekua, rice laddoos, sugarcane, seasonal fruit — arranged in bamboo soop baskets
The Most Austere of Festivals
Chhath is the great festival of Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP and the Nepal Terai — and by common reckoning the most rigorous vrat in the Hindu year. It is offered to Surya, the visible god, and to Chhathi Maiya, the mother of the sixth day who protects children. What sets Chhath apart is its bare directness: no murti, no priest required, no temple necessary — the worshipper stands waist-deep in water and offers arghya to the sun itself, once as it sets and once as it rises. The setting-sun arghya is Chhath's most distinctive teaching: gratitude offered to the declining sun, honouring what has given its day, before greeting what rises. The vrat is usually kept for the family's children — their health, and thanksgiving for prayers answered.
The Four Days
Day one, Nahay Khay: the vrati bathes (traditionally in a river), and the household eats one pure meal — often kaddu-bhaat, bottle gourd and rice. Day two, Kharna: a day-long fast ends at dusk with gur ki kheer (jaggery rice pudding) and roti; from this meal the 36-hour nirjala fast begins — no food, no water. Day three is Sandhya Arghya: through the day the family prepares thekua and fruit in bamboo soop baskets, and at sunset everyone processes to the water, where the vrati stands in the river or pond and offers the evening arghya to the setting sun as folk songs to Chhathi Maiya rise around them. The night may be kept in vigil at the ghat. Day four, Usha Arghya: before dawn the family returns, the rising sun receives the morning arghya, and the fast is broken with prasad. The exact Ottawa dates are in the Festivals & Dates list on this page.
Chhath in Ottawa & Canada
Chhath in Canada asks for real commitment — early November at an Ottawa waterside is cold — and Ottawa's Bihari and Purvanchali families keep it anyway, which is very much in the festival's spirit. The Ottawa and Rideau rivers offer accessible banks, and community groups coordinate shared ghat setups where several vratis offer arghya together; a large tub of water on a balcony or backyard is the accepted fallback when the riverbank is impractical, since the arghya is to the sun, with water as the medium. Ottawa's sunrise and sunset times differ sharply from India's — use the exact local times from our Panchang page for the two arghya days, with the dates computed on this page for the Canadian timezone. Thekua ingredients (wheat flour, jaggery, ghee) are at every Indian grocer; sugarcane appears in Ottawa's Indian stores around Chhath season.
Each link opens our computed festival calendar with exact dates and timings for your city.
Questions
When is Chhath Puja this year in Ottawa?
The exact Ottawa date of the Sandhya Arghya day — computed for the Canadian timezone — is in the Festivals & Dates list on this page. Nahay Khay begins two days earlier; check our Panchang page for Ottawa's precise sunset and sunrise times for the two arghyas.
Can Chhath be done without a river?
Yes. The arghya is offered to the sun; the river is the traditional medium, not the object. Where a riverbank is impractical — or an Ottawa November makes it unsafe — standing at a large tub or small pool of clean water at home is widely accepted practice among diaspora communities.
Why is arghya offered to the setting sun?
Chhath is nearly unique in honouring the declining sun before the rising one — gratitude for what has already given its light, taught before hope for what comes next. The evening arghya on Shashthi is the festival's emotional centre.
Source: Surya worship tradition; Bihar–Purvanchal folk tradition; Rigvedic solar hymns. Regional versions may vary — this text follows the version most widely used in community worship.